Out of Orbit
by Emmouse
Summary: Cresswell. Cress and Thorne if they had met at College. Cress the quiet but brilliant nerd, Throne the gorgeous entitled rich boy who has it all. What happens when two very different people, whose orbits have no reason to cross, suddenly do?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello!**

 **Welcome to my first Fanfic**

 **Hope you enjoy it and please favourite and review!**

Things were not turning out the way she had imagined.

It had been a year now since she had come to the U.S, and still she had not settled in. She never anticipated, through the months of excited planning and preparation, that adapting to a new country and making friends would be so very difficult. The fact of the matter, was this; Crescent Darnel was not so good at making friends.

Oh, she had tried. She'd gone to all the mixers, the freshman parties, and joined a Society. It's just when it actually came to talking to people, interacting with them, she always fell a little short. That's not to say she didn't _know_ people, she often spoke with a nice girl Tori in class and they'd worked together on assignments, but she never saw her outside of class. Even her Swedish roommate from her freshman year had never been around enough for Cress to hang out with, and although Eliza had also been nice, she had her own close nit of friends from Sweden that Cress didn't really feel welcome amongst.

She sighed, feeling rather pathetic and annoyed at herself, and hoisted her back further across her shoulder and pushed through the door and into her new apartment. She stifled yet another sigh as she surveyed her new 'home'. Well, she'd certainly got what she paid for. Apartments rarely come so cheap this close to campus, and now she knew why. Determined not to be brought down any further, she dropped her bag on the sofa bed and went to retrieve the rest of her bags from the taxi, determined to make the best of the situation. It might not be home yet, but it was nothing a shit load of fairy lights and 6 computer screens couldn't fix.

That night, after she'd unpacked nearly everything from its boxes, she trotted down the four flights of stairs – the elevator ironically broken – and out into Cambridge. Outside the sky was starting to darken, the sun just above the horizon, casting a red glow upon the side walk and the road. In this light the few leaves that had begun to turn red were lit up. Autumn was here. She stuffed her hands into her big woollen coat and strolled along the street, humming the tune to her favourite Opera song.

She headed deeper into the student area to where all the restaurants and independent coffee shops are. After her 15 hour flight and all the unpacking, she was now famished and her extraordinarily small kitchen was in no state to be making food tonight. In the main student area, she headed straight to her usual haunt, a small Italian restaurant on the street corner. It was very small, but popular with the local hipsters. Luckily, with College not starting yet for another couple of days, it was a lot less crowded that usual. The door bell sounded as she entered.

"Ah, Bella!" Cried the guy behind the small bar.

"My dear Cress! How are you?"

Smiling she skipped other to the bar.

"Fausto, I'm well thank you."

He showed her to her usual spot in the corner.

"Now my dear, would you like a menu or will you stick to the usual?"

"The usual please."

"No problem my dear, no problem!" he turned away from her and yelled towards the kitchen door, "Hey Antonio, Our girl Crescent Moon Has returned! One of the usual please!"

A disembodied voice replied from the kitchen.

"Fantastico!"

Cress giggled to herself as Fausto set about getting her a glass of water.

She had stumbled across Fausto's at the beginning of her freshman year, she had been strolling past when she'd glanced in and found its soft candle lit atmosphere. She had thought it was lovely, like something out of a romance movie. She often imagined herself, dressed up with a date sat across her, staring at her like the guys in the movies do, like she was the only girl in the world. In reality she had only ever visited Fausto's alone. This never bothered her too much though as Fausto and Antonio really were lovely and welcoming and had gotten to know her during her frequent visits.

Cress didn't have to wait too long before Fausto returned with a steaming bowl of cannelloni, her stomach growled at the sight of it. Fausto laughed.

"Buon appettito!" he chimed, placing the dish before her.

"Grazie." She replied.

She had only taken a few bites when he walked in, after spending the entire summer back home in England she'd almost forgotten he had existed. She almost inhaled her mouthful of cheesy cannelloni. The summer had not changed him, Carswell Throne was still as gorgeous as ever. Painfully so. And yet he would never notice her.

They after all inhabited two different worlds. He was the charming, entitled Politics student who had it all. The looks, the grades, the money and the girls. Whereas she was the nerd, the girl no one noticed, she wasn't rich either. In fact the only reason she was able to go to Harvard was because she managed to get a full scholarship, Cress had somewhat of an affinity with programming and technology.

So, despite all of her wildest fantasies, she and Carswell had never met.

She watched as he waltzed in, Fausto noticed him and yelled out happily and ushered him to sit down. He was more tanned than before, and he wore navy slacks, boat shoes and a grey sweater. A navy cap perched on his head, written across the front in white italics was 'Captain'. She took in every inch of him, his easy going demeanour to the lazy smile that spread across his face. He always seemed so at ease, at home in any situation.

She was so deep into her fantasies, something about her and Carswell sailing off into the sunset on a yacht, that she hadn't even noticed Carswell and Fausto pause from their animated conversation to look over to her. She sat up straighter, surprised.

"Bella?"

She blinked at Fausto's words, had he been speaking to her?

Confused she pointed at herself eyes wide.

"Me?" she squeaked.

"Si! Bella, Si!" He beckoned her over arm swinging wildly.

She stood warily to join them, trying hard no to trip as she rounded a chair.

"Bella, this is Signore Thorne. He is also a student at Harvard!"

"Hello" Cress attempted, somewhat weekly.

"A pleasure, Carswell Thorne at your service." He said with flourish, sapphire blues eyes twinkling as if he knew the exact affect he had on her.

Stars, he was even more attractive close up. As they both stood in momentary silence she realised she had failed to introduce herself.

"Oh! I, erm, I'm Cress Darnel." She paused unsure of herself. "Nice to meet you?"

His smile broadened and Cress couldn't help feeling like he was internally laughing at her, not as though mocking her, but she was bumbling and even she knew it. Stars, she hoped this exchange would be over quickly so she could retreat back into her quiet corner and wither in shame. Unsteady on her feet, she took a step back, only to back into the next table and knock the candle holder onto the floor. Cursing she quickly bent down to retrieve it. As she lent down, her hair got stuck on the side of the chair, yanking most of it out of its bun. She stood up quickly her long hair now spilling all over.

"Aces, is that all hair?!"

Fausto and Carswell were looking at her oddly. Fausto with embarrassment for her. And Carswell in disbelief. Cress yelped, inwardly cursing herself. She wanted to just run away and pretend she'd never spoken to him. She could see on Fausto's face that he knew he'd already made a mistake introducing them. Well, how was he supposed to know that Cress was a hopeless wreck, with a hopeless crush?

Somewhere in the back of her mind she had convinced herself that if the ever did meet, he would instantly see something none else had and fall for all her charm that was hidden away so deeply that not even she knew she had it. She had forgotten that she was a scraggly haired nerd with zero social skills.

No longer knowing how to respond, she just turned headed back to her table and picked up her bag. She retrieved the money from her purse and handed the exact change to Fausto as she quickly made her exit.

"Yeah, erm, it was nice meeting you." She called over her shoulder as she stepped out into the cool autumn evening air.


	2. Chapter 2

She could die, she was so embarrassed.

Sometimes she even shocked herself by how hopeless she could be. Any normal person would have introduced themselves calmly, and if anything had gone wrong they'd have laughed it off like no big deal. Instead she had practically ran out of the restaurant. She would have a hard time explaining that to Fausto the next time she saw him. If she could ever show her face there again. Her heart was still pounding, and she didn't know if it was from running up the four flights of stairs to her flat or from her encounter with Carswell Thorne.

Collapsing onto her sofa bed she let out a heartfelt sigh. In her head she played over the memory of him as he entered Fausto's. She recalled the ways his eyes sparkled as he introduced himself. And how awfully she had embarrassed herself.

Pushing all thoughts of Carswell Thorne aside, she picked up her laptop. The gentle hum from the machine calmed her nerves as she started work on her project. Although the sophomore year classes had started yet, Cress had been given an extra credit task by her Professor. It involved creating a programme of artificial intelligence, one that could complete complex tasks without input from a person, but instead completed tasks through learning. It was only a basic AI programme, it couldn't handle anything to strenuous, but Cress was becoming more and more attached to 'little Cress'. She hoped in the future she could adapt it further to become security programme. However, at present it was a long way off from being anything 'ground breaking.' She didn't let this deter her though, as she merrily scrolled through page after page of programming, whilst singing along to her favourite opera.

Class started a few days after, and Cress was a little bit nervous about starting class again. It was silly of course, nothing was going to be drastically different this year, the classes were not difficult for her and she'd had no problems. She knew that nothing would change in regards to friendships either, but she wasn't going to let this bother her all too much. After all, she knew she would be very busy developing 'little Cress' this year, and it would probably be wise to avoid distractions. Her Professor had told her as much.

She had also promised herself, that evening a few days ago, that she would no longer allow her thoughts to be distracted with fantasies regarding a certain male. She would immerse herself in her work and achieve what she had set out to do by leaving England and going to College in the U.S., she would graduate with the Greatest Honours in Computer Science at an Ivy League University. And she knew she would achieve it. Cress's mind might not be built to communicate well with her fellow humans, but it was perfectly fluent in communicating with computers.

As Cress made her way through the autumn sunshine she bolstered herself.

"I am a _successful_ programmer, on my way to change the world." She whispered. Fumbling, nervous Cress fell away as she was overcome with sudden confidence. She strolled into class and placed herself at the back, taking her Laptop from her bag as the lecture bag, she absorbed every word the lecturer spoke.

She was ready for her sophomore year, no matter what it threw at her.


	3. Chapter 3

Carswell Thorne was failing in every single one of his classes. And this time there was no way to charm his way out of it, nor was there a 'donation' generous enough to make his dire academic situation 'go away'. It wouldn't be long now until news reached his father, he needed to buy more time.

Thorne knew very well that this would be the last straw, to tip his father's anger over the edge. The Governor of California's son, as a College drop out and overall failure, would be an embarrassment and bring shame to the Thorne family name. He didn't doubt for a second that his father wouldn't even hesitate to not only disown him, but also cut him completely off. Thorne was determine not to let that happen.

Luckily, he had a plan.

He sat sprawled leisurely across a leather arm chair in the Campus Coffee shop, he stretched his arms over his head as he prepared to launch his plan into action. As he took a long drink of his black coffee, he held eye contact with a redhead a few tables down. She blushed prettily and quickly looked away. Finishing his drink, he stood and strode towards her.

"Kate, right?"

Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, she nodded in reply.

"I'm Carswell, we're in Contemporary Politics together." he said as he slid into the seat across from her.

She looked up at him, shock plain across her face.

"I, yes. Erm, I guess we are."

Before she could say anything more, Thorne focused onto the worn copy of 'Far from the Maddening Crowd'.

"Hardy." He remarked in approval "A true realist, man after my own heart."

Kate's only response was to stare at him, even more openly surprised.

"You read Hardy?"

He shrugged.

"Call me old fashioned, but I like the classics."

Now this elicited a warm smile form her, and it struck Thorne as it somewhat did regularly, just how easy this was.

Thorne had been at a bit of a loss after his academic adviser had took him aside in order to tell him that he was failing, they were now six weeks into the first semester and Thorne already had four papers for four different classes that had yet to be handed in. He hadn't begun work on any of them. His Adviser had given an ultimatum, have the papers complete within the next two weeks at an excellent standard, or the situation would be taken to the Dean. The Dean who would have no other option but to have him removed from College.

Thorne's plan had been formulated very quickly. And that plan involved the student on his course with the highest GPA, Kate Fallow.

Therefore, in a very short amount of time Thorne had acquainted himself with the matters of Kate Fallow.

He hadn't even heard of Hardy prior to trying to get close to Kate.

As he sat, opposite the quite girl who was now eyes were now lit as she continued in animated conversation about all the books she loved so deeply, Thorne couldn't help but feeling just a little bit guilty.

"Listen, we should study sometime. Make the most of being class mates and all." he said, a lazy smile drawing up the corner of his mouth. His eye locking with hers. He could see she was flustered.

"I would like that." she said lowly, not quite able to keep eye contact with him.

The smile that engulfed his face could not be contained now.

"Great! How about we exchange cell numbers and we can sort out a date and time?"


	4. Chapter 4

It was as he strode his way to the library to meet Kate for their 'study date', that he suddenly recalled the bizarre encounter with that strange girl at Fausto's. He wasn't sure what reminded him of it, but regardless he couldn't help but laugh aloud as the scene replayed in his head. It most definitely was not a reaction he was used to, though he supposed it was common for girls to become flustered in his presence, and for that he couldn't blame them. But this girl's reaction had been on a whole over level. And that hair! Aces, he didn't think he'd ever met anyone with hair so long. Somehow, he still found her charming in a way. Fausto had wondered if he'd offended her, and he assured Thorne that she was usually so lovely. He'd only introduced them as he was surprised that two of his most frequent and favourite customers, who also attended College together, had not met.

He chuckled again as he pictured her small frame practically sprinting out of the door.

Reaching the grade ornate Victorian style library, he paced up the steps taking two at a time with complete ease. He smoothed back his hair as he stepped into the lobby, he saw Kate immediately and could see her visibly light up upon noticing him.

"Hello." She greeted him quietly, pushing a strand of hair behind her ears.

"Hello," he replied merrily "Hope you weren't waiting very long."

Always the gentleman.

"Oh, no. I literally just arrived myself."

He beamed a smile at her.

She blushed.

"So shall we get started?"

They sat at a desk at the back of the library, Thorne had chosen it especially for its privacy. The lighting was low here, illuminated by two desk lamps. It was very atmospheric, perfect to helping him with his endeavour.

Thorne didn't consider himself as bad person, just more of a rogue. And he knew this was part of his charm. Girls new Thorne's reputation, and it wasn't one of the perfect boyfriend. Thorne regularly found himself surrounded by a certain type of girl. There was an unspoken code, girls knew what they were getting themselves into. He didn't doubt that Kate was also aware of his reputation.

Thorne decided as they sat and talked about the assignment, that he quite liked Kate Fallow. She was nice, sincere and seemed to really enjoy the class.

"So have you decided what you're going to write it about?" she asked, leaning towards him. Elbows propped on the desk.

"Hm, no. Not yet. That's the thing, I have no idea where to start."

"Oh, Okay." She sat back a bit, scanning through her notepad thoughtfully. "Well which part of the class has got your interest so far?"

Thorne took a moment to think through what he was about to say, struggling to recall what they had covered in class. It would have helped if he had been present for most of it.

Leaning forward he placed a hand on her. She jumped slightly at the sudden contact, her eyes left her notepad to meet his.

"That's the thing, I'd really appreciate it if you could help me out with this assignment. I'm not actually doing all that well in this class…"

Thorne watched her carefully for a reaction. For a few moments she looked at Thorne with the same surprise she'd had when he'd asked her to have a study date with her. Then her mouth slowly formed the shape of an 'o'.

"Oh, okay." She said as her brows began to scrunch, she quickly looked backed down at her notepad and removed her hand from Thorne's.

Thorne began to panic, this was not good.

After another moment, she let out an incredulous laugh.

"I am soooo stupid." She shook her head and began gathering her things up and into her bag. "For some dumb reason, I thought you'd actually asked me here because you might actually like mer. I mean I guess it's my fault, after all it's no secret that you're a man-slut."

She stood up and pushed her chair back, meanwhile Thorne was sat frozen in shock. He really had misjudged Kate Fallow. He supposed it was no surprise, she was a clever girl, he'd just hoped she would be too charmed to see through him.

"I mean, I had heard rumours you might actually be failing. I'd just thought they were people just being jealous, but it's true isn't it? Perfect Carswell Thorne is failing so badly that he has lowered himself to charm silly little girls into doing the work for him."

As she turned to walk away she paused and looked back at him, Thorne was struck by how upset he was. Completely baffled by her reaction, he still hadn't managed to construct a plausible reaction. Aces, his mind was reeling.

"One day Carswell Thorne, Karma will catch up with you. One day you will meet a girl, one you actually care about, and she'll see right through you too. I may even feel sorry for you when you get a taste of your own medicine."

With that Kate Fallow stormed from the building.

He stood dazed. Wow, he had not been expecting that. He knew he'd been unfair, but he wasn't quite sure what he'd done to elicit such a strong reaction. He understood she was pissed, but her words had been a sharp slap.

It wasn't until he was on his way out of the library that he heard some girls from one of his classes whispering.

"What a jerk. Poor Kate had thought he'd finally noticed her."

Finally?

Oh.

It struck him suddenly, that although Thorne's attention had just recently been drawn to Kate, she might have been paying him attention much longer before.

He was an idiot.


	5. Chapter 5

Throne didn't chase after Kate. He wasn't that dumb. There was nothing he could say to her now that would make him any less than a jerk, without lying of course. And although Carswell Thorne was not the most truthful, he was not a liar. Instead he exited the library and headed back home, more laden with guilt than he'd ever care to admit.

Outside the air was crisp and scented with burning leaves, his breath fogged before him as he walked. The end of October was rapidly approaching and signs of winter could be seen everywhere, the branches now completely bare. He dug his hands deeper into his jacket pocket, he was never a fan of the cold and on days like this he deeply missed the year-round warmth of the California sun. What he didn't miss however, was the overbearing weight of his father's expectations. The sun seemed like a small sacrifice in comparison.

It was his father who had insisted Carswell study Politics and Economics, insistent that he follow in the steps of the three great Thorne men before him, all of which had been highly thought of and influential politicians. But Thorne did give a damn who ran the country, or how taxes were being spend across the states, he didn't plan to stick around long enough to feel the effects.

Now what he really wanted to do was be a Captain, be in control of his own ship. In the literal and metaphorical sense. He longed to sail around the world, visit all the places the planet has to offer. And meet all the girls. He knew there wasn't much in a way of income for such an endeavour, but Thorne was not acquiring his wealth through less savoury, or even illegal means. After all, a rich man can easily go without one rare diamond. He supposed he would be in fact doing society a favour, because nobody wants to rich becoming too rich and powerful.

But for now Thorne settled himself with sailing during Inter-semester breaks, whilst he used college to please his father in the meantime, and whilst Thorne gathered the money he needed to fund his grand adventure. Upon completion of his goal he would set sail and never to return. He just needed to buy his time, and not get cut off by his father. And now Kate Fallow was out of the picture, he needed to find a solution to his problems fast.

It was in that moment - as he was affirming himself in his goals and how he must achieve them - that Thorne turned the corner and walked straight into two men. Caught by surprise he stumbled back a few steps and yelped, it took him a couple of minutes to piece together the scene before him. He was surprised to find Kate Fallow there also. Frowning he looked from the men to Kate, in an instance he noticed the fear on her face and her bag in the hands of one of the men.

Oh.

The occasional coward, Thorne wondered for a moment if he should just retreat and pretend like nothing has happened – that would be the easiest option. He knew though that he wouldn't, walking away would make him as bad as these men, and although Carswell Thorne could be a coward and even a crook, forcefully taking things for young women in a dark street was intrinsically wrong.

"Hello Kate." He nodded in greeting. "Fine evening?"

He looked from one man to the other - one fat and balding, the other tall and somewhat hairy – and they looked from each other to him, confused by his appearance. He supposed they didn't seemed too strong, it seemed plausible that he might be able to escape the situation with him and Kate in reasonably well condition. A condition where he hopefully would end beaten up.

He walked around the men towards Kate, looping an arm around her shoulders and ushering her away.

"How about you and I go for a bite to eat and leave these fine gentleman to enjoy there evening?"

It was then that Kate's eyes met his, and whilst saturated with fear there was anger in her gaze.

"I can't," she whispered "My grandmother's broach is in my purse."

Aces, why could nothing ever be simple? He swore as he saw it in her eyes that she wasn't leaving without that darn broach. And he couldn't very well leave without her.

Sighing deeply, he turned towards the men.

"I think it's about time you were giving that bag back gentlemen."

The two men looked again at each other, and then down at the bag in their hands, before breaking into a raucous chorus of laughter.

One thing that Thorne couldn't stand was being laughed at, it made his blood boil and caused him to be rash. He stormed towards them and wretched the bag from their grasps, seeing what Thorne was about to do the fat man step forward and punched him right in the face. Thorne was stunned for a moment as he felt a hot trickle fall from his nose. Aces, that had hurt. He hadn't been punched in so long that he'd almost forgotten how much a well-placed hit hurt. Before he couldn't fully process just how much he regretted intervening the other man brought up his leg, which connected with Thorne's stomach and forcing the air from his lungs. He fell to the floor, gasping for air.

Kate screamed.

To Thornes grace however, before another hit could be thrown or another kick administer, a yell came from down the street. The two men looked at each other before making a run for it. Kate rushed to his side. Footfalls rushed passed, as a police man gave chase.

"Carswell! Are you okay?!" Kate cried.

Thorne was far from okay, not that his pride would let Kate know that, instead he rolled onto his back, still slightly convulsing from the pain, and gave Kate the brightest smiled he could manage.


	6. Chapter 6

Cress sat in her small little apartment, bundled up in her blankets, her fingers dancing across her keyboard as she tapped out new program updates for Little Cress. She buzzed with excitement as she smoothed out more wrinkles in her programing, Little Cress was closer than ever to completion. She could hardly wait until she revealed the final product to her Professor. She hummed merrily as she leant over and scoop another mouthful of cookie dough ice cream from the tub on her desk.

It was mid-way into the semester now, and Cress had finally settled back into life at College. Her situation was very much still the same in terms of friendships, but all of that rarely mattered anymore. Instead she was filled with an overwhelming sense of purpose, she was born to program and she was pretty damn good at it.

This did not mean she didn't often lay awake at night overcome by loneliness, it was just that now she didn't let it consume her. There was nothing to do to help her situation, therefore she must make the best of it until she graduated. Such thoughts propelled her forwards.

Finishing the string of programming she was working on, she hit the enter button. She watched eagerly as Little Cress booted up, as the system ran through the programming.

"How may I be of assistance Cress?"

Cress cringed a little as the program spoke, she had used her own voice as the vocal interface. A choice she was beginning to regret, after all it reminded her just how high-pitched and young sounding her voice was.

Cress cleared her throat and sat back. Now was the moment of truth.

"Little Cress, run security diagnostic."

This was Cresses big task, an A.I. security system that could run without a human to oversee its progress. It was a hefty goal, requiring miles upon miles of programming. Very few had attempted in before and succeeded, but Cress Darnell lived and breathed programming and she knew she could do it.

"Running system diagnostic now."

She watched as the diagnostic scrolled across the input screen, the other screen ran through several video feeds from security cameras she had installed around her apartment, the third ran through sensors that were spread throughout her building.

She hadn't installed the cameras simply because she was concerned for the security of her apartment, although it could hurt with extra security when she had thousands of pounds worth of technology within, but rather it was just to test Little Cress.

Little Cress's voice suddenly chimed out merrily.

"Diagnostic complete, premises secure."

Cress leapt from her chair with excitement.

Only for Little Cress to interrupt.

"Incoming call from Aunt Sybil."

Cress's stomach plummeted. She hadn't spoken to her Aunt in months, and Cress knew she would not be pleased. After all Cress had promised her she would call regularly.

"Answer call" she whispered.

"Hel-" She began.

"Crescent. So you are alive? Well that would have been nice to know. What did I say Crescent? The condition was that you called me regularly …"

Cress moaned internally as her Aunt went off on one of her rants. She hated speaking with Aunt Sybil, she always made her feel so small and worthless.

"I'm very Sorry Aunt Sybil, you see I've been so very caught up with College…"

Sybil cut her off again.

"I raised you Crescent, after your mother died and your selfish father abandoned you on my doorstep. Not only that, I pay for you to go all the way to a foreign country to study, and this is how you repay me?"

Cress began to wrap her hair from elbow to wrist nervously as Sybil continued on her rant. How she wished to be free from the woman. 'Raised' was an interesting way to describe Cress's childhood, Sybil had barely been present as she worked long hours. Cress was often left alone in the house.

Cress hadn't realised Sybil had asked her a question.

"Crescent! Honestly, get that head out of the clouds. You can be so absent minded sometimes."

"I'm sorry Aunt, what was it you said?"

Sybil let out a frustrated sigh.

"I asked you what time your classes will end on Friday."

Cress blink surprised, why on earth would Sybil want to know when she finished classes?

"Um, three Aunt."

"O.K. well be at the hotel for six, we can dine in the restaurant there."

Cress froze, hotel? Restaurant? Oh stars no…

"My flight arrives at four, and I shall want to refresh myself first. Now don't be late Crescent, it tires me when you act so absent minded."

Cress muttered and dazed good bye as her Aunt hung up the phone.

Had she really heard that correctly? Sybil was coming to visit her? All of her elation from her earlier success with Little Cress had thoroughly dissipated. This was very bad. Very bad indeed. Sybil would expect to see her apartment – which she immediately knew would not be up to her Aunt's expectations – and would almost definitely want to meet all of Cress's friends.

 _Friends._

Cress grounded and flopped onto her couch.

"Visitor detected." Little chimed. "Height, 5ft6. Female. Brunette hair. Unarmed. No immediate threat detected. Carries package, diameter-"

Cress sat up quickly and sprang to look what the security feeds detected, true enough there was someone at her front door. Little Cress continued running off her diagnostic as Cress watched the girl in the feed balance a package on her hip, waiting expectantly.

Nervously Cress dropped her blanket and put a cardigan on over her dress, she stopped at the front door and drew in a deep intake of breath.

She opened the door.

The girl's face pulled into a smile.

"Hi!"

"Hello." Cress replied, she had hoped it would come out friendly but instead she just sounded suspicious.

"I'm Cinder, I just moved in upstairs. Thought I'd come say hello."

Cress panicked for a moment, unsure on how to proceed. Here was her chance to make a friend. If she didn't mess it up that is.

"I'm Cress. It's nice to meet you." She paused for a second. "Would you like to come in and have a drink?" she could feel her voice trembling nervously, luckily Cinder didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, that'd be great." She smiled warmly at Cress "We haven't really unpacked properly upstairs yet." She told Cress as they entered her apartment.

"We?" Cress asked.

"Oh, yes. There's two of us, me and Iko."

Cress offered her a seat on the couch, Cinder took it happily.

"Wow" Cinder remarked noticing the wall of screens that dominated her desk and one side of the room.

"I study programming." Cress explained.

"I study engineering, there's more than the fair share of tools and machinery scattered around my apartment." Cinder nodded knowingly "Drives Iko mad; she's training to be a hairdresser." She told Cress as though it explained everything.

Cress got them a drink of tea from her small kitchen and settled onto her desk chair across from Cinder.

"Actually, you might be able to help me with something." Cinder said as she picked her package up from the ground "Coincidence really, but as part of a project I have been doing for college I've been working on window cleaning android. A bit boring I know, but I keep having problems with the programming. You wouldn't take a look at it would you?"

Cress beamed, finally a way to make a friend.

"Of course, it'll be no bother."

Cinder passed the android to her and Cress placed in on her desk. This would give her another opportunity to test other features of Little Cress's programming. She plug the android into her hard-drive.

"Device detected, how shall I proceed?"

Cinder jumped at Little Cress's voice, Cress explained her project to Cinder.

"Amazing! Seems like I came to the right person to help with programming then."

Cress had Little Cress run through the androids programming and create a diagnostic, after a few tweaks the android was working perfectly. Cinder was great full.

"Hey, you know. Me, Iko and a few of our friends are going out tomorrow night if you want to come? I'm sure Iko would love to meet you."

Cress was unsure, tomorrow was Thursday and she really should spend the evening cleaning up her apartment and preparing for her Aunt's arrival.

Cinder saw her indecision.

"If you can't…"

"Oh no,no. I would love to."

Cinder smiled.

"Great! We'll come down and get you at 8?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

"I best get back to unpacking, it was really nice to meet you Cress."

"You too. See you tomorrow."

As Cress shut her front door, she could hardly contain the grin on her face.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello!**

 **Thank you for all your lovely reviews, I hope you continue to enjoy.**

 **Another little burst of updates ahead, will probably do a couple more this week if I get chance.**

 **Thank you!**

Cress was running late, very late. She was supposed to have been ready thirty minutes ago, it was a blessing that they hadn't called on her yet. She had got so wrapped up in Little Cress that she hadn't even realised that 8pm had already been and gone.

She now rushed around her apartment brushing her hair and putting on her cardigan at the same time. Cress had been unsure on what to wear, she'd sat and thought about it all the way through class this morning. Cinder hadn't really said where they were going, so Cress was stuck between casual or 'going-out' clothes.

For ages she had been saving a beautiful navy blue velvet dress that her Aunt had got her last Christmas, one that she'd had no reason to wear until now. She'd tried it on earlier but hadn't felt comfortable in it. Sure it was a beautiful dress, she just felt that it didn't really 'fit' her plain self. Instead she'd opted for one of her usual dresses, a black skater dress covered in little white stars. She finished her look with a thick-knit baby blue cardigan and black Doc Martens.

Surveying the finish product in the mirror, she supposed she didn't look too bad. Her hair however was not complying. No matter how she coddled it, the long fair strands remained frizzy, especially now that she brushed it, static made it stand in a halo around her face.

"Oh stars," she muttered.

Cress didn't have much time to dwell on the matter of her unruly hair, as Little Cress chimed up to report another visitor. Picking up her bag she rushed to the door.

"Mute feed."

Little Cress paused from listing off her report on the visitor.

Opening the door Cress almost collapsed.

She starred dumbly for a minute, trying to process what she saw. Oh Stars! Why hadn't she let Little Cress finish of listing her report, at least then she'd have had some warning!

Carswell Thorne stood at her front door, the bright smile on his face flickering slightly as he noticed Cress.

"Ah, it's you!" His smile returned to his face with a vengeance, now lit by humour. It was so blinding that Cress had to refrain from shielding her eyes.

Whilst he stood there, looking vaguely unsure, Cress realised she hadn't said anything yet and was still starring at him dumbly.

"I…I… Yes." She stuttered.

"Cress, right?" She nodded. "When Cinder said she had made a new friend I hadn't thought it would be you, should have guessed. I doubt there are many Cress's about."

Cress blinked at him. Cinder? Friend? Wait, Thorne knew Cinder?

"Um," Cress managed.

"We should probably go," Thorne interjected "Cinder, Iko and the gang are waiting for us at Lunar. Cinder had asked me to come and get you as she was late from work."

Still severely stunned, Cress nodded understandingly.

"Oh yes, Ok. Lunar?"

She'd never heard of Lunar before, she had the creeping suspicion that it sounded like a night-club. At 21, had not been to a night-club yet. The thought of so many people crammed into a dark space scared her actually.

"It's a bar."

Cress let out a sigh of relief, to which Thorne seemed extremely amused. A bar she could handle, a couple of drinks with a few friends? No problem. Suddenly Cress began to feel very excited, she was going out with friends!

Thorne suddenly looped his elbow in hers, causing Cress to let out a small squeak of surprise before she could stop herself.

"Now, if you'll accompany me, we'll be off."

And with that Carswell Thorne marched a very dazed Cress Darnell off and out into the city night.

Carswell had been extremely surprised when he'd realised Cinder's new friend was the small girl from Fausto's. Cinder had warned him beforehand that the girl was painfully shy but 'sweet', he'd been told to treat her carefully. That in mind he had been a bit apprehensive about picking her up, he thought she'd sounded a bit odd when Cinder had described her. When he had voiced as much Cinder had punched him in the arm.

They had spoken much as they made her way to Lunar, Thorne was thankful that it wasn't that far away from where she lived. Within five minutes they could see the light blue glow of the neon lights that marked Lunar's entrance.

He looked down at Cress, to ask her whether or not she'd eaten yet, and saw her face crinkled slightly with anxiety. She looked down at her clothes and back up at the entrance of Lunar, and then to Thorne.

He let out a laugh causing her to look up at him surmised.

"Don't worry about your clothes, don't let the neon lights fool you, Lunar is a small indie bar. No one pays attention to what you are wearing," he watched as she visually relaxed "You look lovely anyway."

She seemed suddenly surprised.

"Captain!" Carswell was nearly knocked off his feet as a blur of blue dreadlocks suddenly leap on him.

"Iko" he wheezed, the breath ever so slightly knocked out of him.

After she let him go he turned Iko to face his companion.

"Iko, this is Cress."

True to form Iko embraced the girl with equal enthusiasm, Carswell smothered a laugh as the girl startled.

"Nice to meet you! Cinder has told me all about you, I can't believe we'll be neighbours! Eeek!"

Cress smiled as Iko let her go.

"Yes, it's nice to meet you too."

Carswell stood patiently as Iko lead an animated conversation with Cress. Cress seemed to grow at ease with Iko, easily brought into the flow of her enthusiasm. He didn't want to interrupt them, but they were stood outside and the cold was starting to get to him.

"Iko, where's Cinder? We should go inside."

Iko froze and looked from Thorne to Cress, crestfallen.

"I almost forgot! I'm sorry Captain I've got to go! I've been called into work," she turned to Cress "I'm really sorry Cress but Cinder had to leave, her Step Mom called and demanded they meet up. She's really sorry."

Cress tried to hide her disappointment.

"What about Scarlet and Ze'ev?" he asked.

"They're at Scarlet's Grandmother's farm until Monday."

Thorne was struck by how disappointed Cress looked, despite how she tried to hide it.

"You and Cress go ahead and have some fun though! Get to know her for us, okay?" Iko beamed.

Cress tried to hide how upset she was that she wouldn't be spending the evening getting to know her new friends after all. Iko had said for her and Thorne to go ahead, but she couldn't imagine him actually wanting to spend the evening with her. It had been awkward and they'd hardly talked on their walk there alone.

After Iko had dashed off, waving goodbye and shouting apologies, they stood in silence. She looked up at Thorne to see him looking thoughtful. After two beats he looked down at her, beaming his usual smile.

"You still up for a couple of drinks?"

For a second she considered turning and running, very much like she had done at Fausto's, but she suddenly got very fed up with herself. Was she always going to run away so easily?

Nodding to Thorne, she followed him into Lunars, whispering under her breath. ' I'm a famous actress, enjoying an evening out with a handsome young man.'


	8. Chapter 8

Cress gasped as they entered the bar. Thorne had been right, Lunar was not too fancy after all. In fact it seemed very relaxed, people lounge about in low ambience booths that had light blue fair lights strung overhead. She noticed that in some of the booths, there was even bean bags for seating.

"So what do you think?" Thorne asked her.

"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed causing Thorne to chuckle bemusedly.

As Thorne guided her to one of the booths closest to the bar, she decided that she like Lunar. She'd never thought a place so cool was right on her doorstep. It made her wish she went out more.

She was still really disappointed that Cinder couldn't make it and Iko couldn't stay, she'd only spoken to both of the girls briefly but had already found herself feeling at ease around them. Thorne however made her nerves frazzle with anxiety, and her legs wobble beneath her. The realisation that she would be spending the evening alone with Thorne hit her again and she gripped the booth table for support. How she had dreamed of such a thing happening, where he would realise how brilliant Cress was and fall madly in love with her signalling the beginning of their epic romance.

She supposed she watched too many Soap Operas.

Yet here she was with Carswel Thorne, in the coolest place she'd ever been, his blue eyes shockingly bright and clear beneath the twinkle of fairy lights.

"I'm going to get us some drinks, what would you like?"

Cress wasn't much of a drinker so she drew up blank as Thorne waited expectantly for her to decide.

"Um, I don't know." She looked hopefully towards the bar where chalk boards hung listing some drinks. "Long Island Ice Tea?"

Thorne blink at her, amused.

"Long Island Ice Tea? Are you sure?"

His questioning of her choice unnerved her, had she made a terrible mistake? She had no choice but to go with it know or she would look even sillier. Pushing her shoulders back she cleared her throat.

"Yes, please."

Holding his hands up in surrender, Thorne turned and headed to the bar.

After Thorne returned a few minutes later, he handed her a tall glass filled with a brown liquid which looked in every way the same as a tall glass of iced tea. Perhaps this was why Thorne was so questioning, maybe it was just a soft drink.

Thorne in the other hand had a whisky on the rocks, and as he sipped from it leisurely, she couldn't have imagined him ordering anything else. It was so very him, so much so it made her giggle. Or maybe there was alcohol in her drink after all?

Feeling rather plucky all of a sudden, she leant towards him.

"Why does Iko call you Captain?"

Visually relieved by a break to their silence, Thorne leant towards her as he explained.

"I'm Captain of the sailing team."

Cress was surprised, she hadn't known He was even the sailing team.

"Really?"

A frown briefly flickered across his face.

"Yes, well I was. I mean, I left last year."

"Oh, how come?"

Thorne laughed, though it didn't sound sincere.

"I was sort of made to. We had different ideas of how things should be run."

Thorne took another long gulp of his whisky whilst Cress wondered what on earth he could have done to have been asked to leave. Not that it was any of her business she supposed. Following Thorne's suit, she took a long gulp of her drink too. As her cheeks slowly grew warm, she came to the conclusion that there was definitely alcohol in her drink.

"So tell me about England." He started expectantly, throwing Cress off for a moment.

"Oh well, what do you want to know?"

"I'm just wondering why you came here."

Cress made a pained face that made Thorne laugh.

"That sounded a little blunt, but I'm genuinely intrigued."

"Well basically, I came to escape."

Now Thorne really was intrigued, unfolding his arms he leant closer to her in order to hear her better.

"From who?" he asked.

"My Aunt."

Cress sighed as she thought about Aunt Sybil and her eminent arrival, she honestly wished she could disappear until it was over or gain some sort of emotional armour to help her through it.

She explained to Thorne how her Aunt had raised her, if it could be described as such, and he let out a low whistle.

"Sounds like a woman I wouldn't want to meet."

She nodded in agreement.

"You really wouldn't."

Not really wanting to think about Aunt Sybil tonight though, she pointed at the large table things in the centre of the room.

"What are those?"

Following the line of her finger, his eyes widened.

"Please tell me you have air hockey in England."

Cress shrugged, the name sounded familiar.

Within an instant Thorne was on his feet, finishing his drink, and whisking Cress towards the air hockey tables. She just managed to pause and swig the last of her drink.

She felt warm and fuzzy as he led her over, his hand was wrapped around her wrist causing jolts of electricity to go running along her arm. Positioning her stood at one end of the table, he moved to stand at the other.

"So basically, the aim of the game is to hit the put with the mallet and knock into each others goals." He gave her a teasing smile "Simple enough?"

Cress nodded, and it did seem pretty simple.

She didn't miss Thorne's cocky demeanour though, this was clearly a game he played a a lot. Cress gulp, she was going to get her ass kicked.

They started the match and soon enough as Cress had expected, Thorne was in the lead. At first she could hardly even see the as he fired it back at her so fast. Soon however, she found her self slipping into concentration, her eyes darting around the table anticipating the out. She rallied it back at him, Thorne yelled in surprise as it shot past his defences and into the goal.

Retrieving the put from the basket he eyed her apraisingly.

"Seems like you're getting the hang of this." A wicked grin spread across his face, a Cress's heart did a strange somersault in her chest. "Maybe I can stop going easy on you now."

Suddenly feeling rather cocky herself, she matched his wicked grin.

"Bring it on Captain."

They played several matches, and to Thorne's complete surprise, Cress was the victor.

Slightly exhausted, the pair of them collapsed into the booth. Embarrassing Cress even felt a little bit sweaty, both she and Thorne had put their all into each match. She always thought that Thorne seemed like the competitive type, she's just never imagined herself to be so competitive. Yet as she hit the put back and forth she was absolutely determined to beat him.

"Well," he declared. "I'm impressed."

He fixed his scrutinising blue eyes on her.

"Are you sure you haven't played air hockey before?"

"Of course." she squeaked.

Slouching back in his chair he let out a low whistle.

"Cinder was right, you are a genius."

Cress was shocked, Cinder thought she was a genius? She didn't know what to say in reply to Thorne so they just sat in silence whilst they got their breaths back.

Suddenly Thorne leaped to his feet.

"I'm going to get us another drink."

He bounded back a few minutes with the same drinks they had previously plus two small shot glasses. How he'd managed to balance all four in his grip mystified Cress.

He placed her drinks in front of her and gestured for her to take up the shot as he had is, she did so apprehensively. She'd never taken a shot before and it made her feel endlessly more nervous than drinking a long Island Ice tea. Thorne noticed the look.

"Now don't tell me you've never taken a shot!"

Cress's cheeks flushed embarrassed, he must take her for such a child.

"Um, yes."

"Well then, here's a toast." he lifted his shot glass "to Cress Darnell's first shot."

Without waiting for Cress to follow suit, he downed the drink.

Cress meanwhile took a tentative first sip, instantly realising her mistake as the vodka burnt her throat. Thorne eyed her with concerned as she began to cough.

After her throat cleared she downed it all the second time.


	9. Chapter 9

How they'd ended up at New Beijing's Karaoke Bar, Cress couldn't remember. Well, she remembered the decision to go, just not the actual journey there. They had been sat in Lunar's, two Long Island Ice Tea later and Cress's head had been very light and pleasantly fuzzy, the conversation between them both flowing smoothly. She'd told him abut life back in England, even about her overbearing Aunt, and he'd told her briefly about his struggles with his Father.

Throne had excused himself to the toilet. It was then that Cress heard a gentle melody that she instantly recognised coming from a small radio on the bar, she hadn't even realised that she had begun to sing along.

"Where'd you learn to sing like that?"

She jumped, Thorne was watching her leaning against the booth, a wide grin across his face.

"Captain!"

"That was really beautiful, Cress." he slid into the booth opposite her.

Cress hadn't known what to say so just sat there embarrassed, from being caught singing and from the compliment.

Thorne's face had lit with excitement suddenly.

"I know the perfect place we should go!"

That had been that, next thing she knew she was sat in a low lit bar surrounded by red lanterns, dragon tapestries, and drunk business people.

Thorne was sat watching her expectantly.

"I... I can't!"

"Yes you can. The world deserves to hear your voice Cress." he insisted. He sat scrutinising her with clear blue gaze, Cress's face flushed hotly. She wasn't sure how much longer she could be the focus of those eyes, challenging her. Even through her merry tipsy state, she knew she would only punish herself if she spinelessly backed out now.

"Okay... I guess I could."

Thorne let out a loud 'whoop' of excitement, several of business men nursing their glasses looked over at them. Thorne rushed over to the bar guy, she was suprised to see that they recognised one another. They embraced each other in that arm-grabbing-man-hug thing that guys do, and Thorne pointed over to where she sat. Cress shrank a bit lower into her seat. The bar guy looked young, about Cress's age, with smooth black hair. After a few moments Thorne waved her over, she gulped nervously as she weaved her way around the bar stools.

"Cress, this is Kai. Kai's family own the place." Cress nodded nervously in acknowledgement.

"Nice to meet you." She squeaked.

"Like-wise. Thorne tells me you fancy a go at the Karaoke" He gestured across the bar at the stage. Framed by Red lanterns, and gold dragon motifs, the stage was now occupied by a small middle-age Asian man, who was sang passionately, but albeit greatly out of tune, into the microphone. In one hand he held his drink, the other he pointed out towards the audience. His tie was tied around his head. "Might be a bit of a struggle to get Jeff off the stage." Kai wiped the back of his neck, as he watched Jeff who was now kneeling. The audience regarding him boredly.

"Oh well if it's too much of a bother..."

Thorne dropped a hand on her shoulder making her jump, electricity jolted up her spine.

"I'm sure Jeff can surrender the spotlight for a minute Cress."

Kai Shrugged and headed over to the side of the stage, as Jeff reached his grand finale. As the last low notes warbled in the air, and as Jeff gestured the music tech guy to play another track, Kai shot onto the stage. Retrieving the microphone, he motioned at the tech guy to kill the next track.

"Okay everyone." Kai began, "Thanks Jeff for another thrilling performance." Jeff grunted in acknowledgement as he stumbled off the stage. "I'd like to introduce our next performer of the evening, on her first visit here at New Beijing's; Cress!"

Cress's legs wobbled as Kai gestured her over, Thorne gave her encouraging pat on the back. Still slightly dizzy from the Long Island Ice Teas she slowly made her way towards the stage, Kai offered her a hand to help her up. On the stage Cress began to sweat, the spotlights were hot and the bored looks that the audience gave her made her want to run and hide. She looked over to where Thorne stood, who shot her an enthusiastic thumbs up.

"Erm, Cress?"

Oh stars, she hadn't realised Kai was talking to her. She looked up at him eyes wide.

"What song are you requesting?" He whispered to her.

Her mind was blank. Of course?! She hadn't even thought about what she was going to sing! She hadn't even though she would get this far!

"Whitney." She sputtered quickly.

"Okay..." Kai started unsure "any preference?"

Cress quickly shook her head.

Kai gave the tech guy a thumbs up to start a track.

Cress's heart was making a god-awful racket as Kai passed her the microphone. She was pretty sure everyone could here the cacophony.

As the track began she didn't recognise the song for a minute, nor did she notice that the lyrics had already began to stroll across the small screen at the edge of the stage. She quickly jumped to attention and was immediately relieved to see she recognised the song, "I Have Nothing".

When she looked back at Thorne she noticed he was looking extremely concerned.

 _I'm a famous singer, I am performing in front over thousands of adoring fans._ She told herself. _I can do this._

Closing her eyes, she began to sing.

It did not take long for her to become completely enveloped in the song, she even found herself swaying gently to the music. She was surprised at how much she began to enjoy it, the warmth of the spotlights on her skin, she felt the words coming from her heart, her worries and doubts lifting from her soul. She was Whitney. She let the music sway her some more. She built towards the crescendo, the music building inside of her. As the crescendo finished, she dropped to her knees as she sang the last few gentle final notes.

She stayed kneeling, trying to regain her breath. She opened her eyes, and she had completely forgotten where she was. Her eyes nervously scanned the room, her heart pounded once again as she surveyed the scene before her. All eyes were on the stage, each and every face slack with shock, their drinks left forgotten. She looked to the side of the stage where Kai stood drop-jawed.

 _Thorne._

Terrified she looked over at him, it was difficult to see him with the spotlight in her eyes, but regardless through the gloom of the bar she saw those startling blue eyes completely fixed on her. His face frozen in complete shock, and she dare hoped, a little awe. Their eyes met, the entire bar frozen in silence for what felt like forever. From the far end of the bar someone began to clap, breaking the spell that they were all under.

Thorne blinked and joined in as the whole bar began to clap.

Cress stood slowly, herself stunned. Kai jumped on stage and patted her on the back, she thought he might of thanked her but she was in too much of a daze to pay much attention. She stumbled the steps, her legs trembling as she made her way back to her seat. Thorne's eye never left her.

As she slumped into the chair opposite him, he let out a low whistle.

"Wow." He shook his head in disbelief "That was... That was incredible Cress" He laughed " I don't know what to say."

Cress's face reddened with embarrassment, maybe she'd gone a bit over the top with her performance. Thorne however gave her a massive grin.

"I think this calls for another drink, don't you?"

* * *

 **Sorry for such a long time since the last update, I have been so very busy with Uni and Christmas.**

 **Anyway, thank you for all the follows, favourites and lovely reviews** **\- It means a lot!**


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